When the impression on Chiayi City by the general public
still remains as a small town scenery, actually very
few people know that Chiayi City with soft breeze and
bright sunlight is already a famous City of Band very
early in the Asia Pacific Region. The Chiayi City Band
Festival that has been conducted for fifteen years
has built up its well known reputation in the Asia
Pacific and various countries in the world and is one
of the famous grand musical festivals of Taiwan .

During the seasonal festival at the end of every year,
the Chiayi City Band Festival will appear on the stage
under ardent anticipation by the vast general public.
Not only it can provide important stage for bands to
present their achievements once a year, it is also the
best opportunity to introduce various international famous
bands to domestic band fans

When the bright cooper wind instrument ensembles and the gentle music of the
wood flute echoes together, audiences from the entire country as well as from
various countries in the world will make a sudden change of view on this city
that is in the Tropic of Cancer revealing different styles and features while
unfolding another movement of the vitality of life of Taiwan .

To recall the history of development of the band of Chiayi, it can trace back
to Chaohe 6 th year (1931) during the Japanese occupation period. Until the time
when the present Chiayi City High School established the first local student
band performance department, the trend of Chiayi bands started to spread. After
half a century that means in the 1980s and following the economic prosperity
of Taiwan and smooth information flow, various high schools and vocational schools
in Chiayi established their simple marching band in droves and drum bands were
regrouped as bands that were rich with music and the main performance music was
mainly classical music.

The hosting of the unprecedented 「 Music Lover Band Concert 」 in the country
obtained extensive response and this had started the source of hosting large
activity in the end of the year and the beginning of the year in Chiayi City
later. In 1993, the Chiayi City Cultural Center planned and hosted the 「 First
Annual Band Festival 」 , the 「 1999 Chiayi City International Band Festival 」
in 1998, the 「 2000 Asia Pacific Band Festival In Chiayi 」 in 1999, the 「 Ninth
Annual Band Festival 」 in 2000, the 「 2001 Chiayi City International Band Festival
」 in 2001, the 「 2002 Chiayi International Music Festival 」 in 2002 and the 「
Chiayi City International Band Festival 」 in 2003, till now it has entered into
the 16 th year. Every year enthusiastic response was obtained from the general
public and attracted attention from the international band sector. By accumulating
fifteen years of experience and public praise, Chiayi City won the beautiful
reputation that 「 Chiayi is the city of band in Taiwan 」 .

For the 15 th Annual Chiayi City International Band Festival in 2006 that was
on stage end of last year, the activity period was from December 2, 2006 to January
1, 2007 and this festival was hosted by the Chiayi City Government. Outstanding
band bands in the Asia Pacific Countries and in the country were invited to participate.
The contents included indoor music concert, outdoor music concert, band marathon,
band parade and fixed location performance, band instrument score exhibition,
band photography contest, folk custom style and cross year social evening etc.
The locations were Chiayi Cultural Center Plaza , music hall, city area streets,
Zhongzheng Park and sport stadium etc. Besides performing band both indoor and
outdoor, the parade (band parade) was another kind of performance method. For
the performance method between the courses of performance, various band groups
had their unique style. Beautiful and orderly troops with the performance of
band instrument often became the focal point that attracted the attention of
people. The ten days activity guaranteed that all participants could obtain good
listening and enjoy the rich entertainment in both music and culture.

Come to Chiayi City one time in December, not only you can appreciate the good
songs brought by domestic and foreign bands, you can also take this opportunity
to experience the local features of Chiayi such as Chiayi City Koji Pottery Exhibition
Room, Chen Jen-Te Stone Museum, Chiayi Tower, Lantan and folk customs styles
etc. You can appreciate the stone monkey works that are full of rich local features,
taste traditional snacks like the Chiayi special favour meal, the water jet chicken
meat rice and square short cake etc. We sincerely welcome people around this
country to plan their holiday as early as possible and bring the entire family
to this city and enjoy a music art tour that everybody can listen, see and play.